Saturday, December 22, 2012

Top 50 Best Songs of 2012: #45-41

45. "Born and Raised" - John MayerKaty Perry's newest boyfriend, and all of Hollywood's favourite ex-boyfriend, in many eyes is undeserving of a pity party following his playboy behaviour - but upon first listen to this honest title track tale, as well as the rest of the singer-songwriter's latest release, it becomes clear that a little limelight hibernation did good things for Johnny. Featuring reflective harmonica and classic country-rock chords, Mayer opens this ballad with confessions of losing his way - before spending the rest of the album beginning his journey back.

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44. "Wild Ones" - Flo Rida featuring Sia
This overplayed club track might seem like an odd choice - but there's no denying that the infectious chorus sung by British sparkplug Sia and rivaled by Flo Rida's typical rapid-fire rhymes (if you want to call them that), didn't have the world up and out of seat at first piano key. There's something to be said about dance floor anthems like this one, several of Rihanna's and the majority of David Guetta's, that pump you up amidst short glimmers of melodic sweetness.

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43. "Between Friends" - Flying Lotus featuring Earl Sweatshirt and Captain Murphy
Experimental producer FlyLo has more street cred than he knows what to do with after this year - releasing multi-genre-boasting album Until The Quiet Comes that was woven together with the help of Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Erykah Badu and this track's dueling raspy rhymesmiths Earl Sweatshirt of Odd Future, and someone going by Captain Murphy (take one listen and you'll be reassured it's most definitely Tyler, The Creator). The acid-jazz-meets-funk-meets-soul-meets-street-beats collection is a smooth and flawless trip from first song to the 18th, oozing an unparalleled coolness as it transports you through the stylish dreamscape anthems.

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42. "Bad Girls" - M.I.A.
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, also known as M.I.A., triumphantly reappeared this year with one of the most bad ass songs in the biz and a controversially incredible music video to boot. "My chain hits my chest as I'm banging on the dashboard," the Brit-rapper utters as she hangs off a donuting vehicle in the middle of the desert - proving that years after her "Paper Planes" rise to mainstream stardom, there's still no one in the corner who has swagger like her.

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41. "White Foxes" - Susanne Sundfør
The first time critics heard Dolores O'Riordan or Bjork's unprecedented vocal howl, the world sort of stopped and stared. Sundfør, a Norwegian songstress with an equally piercing set of pipes, is still flying mildly under the North American radar, however - proving that her debut album The Silicone Veil and her mind-blowing vocal abilities combine to be some of 2012's most overlooked diamonds in the rough. On "White Foxes," Sundfør's vocal acrobatics pull in every which direction alongside a ticking clock-beat and twirling piano keys and haunting lyricism ("I've wept and I've stumbled, I fought and I craved for the gravy of your soul"), rightfully adding the ingredients of her inevitable takeover to the forefront of this year.